2 under-the-radar Republicans won big at the debate

Republican
presidential candidate and Ohio Gov. John Kasich speaks during
the first Republican presidential debate at the Quicken Loans
Arena, August 6, 2015, in Cleveland.AP

Four years ago, at a Republican presidential debate moderated by
Fox News host Megyn Kelly, a gay soldier asked GOP candidates a
question.

"Do you intend to circumvent the progress that's been made for
gay and lesbian soldiers in the military?" the soldier asked.

The crowd booed.

Fast forward four years to the first Republican presidential
primary debate of the 2016 election — moderated, again, by Fox
News host Megyn Kelly.

"Gov. Kasich, if you had a son or daughter who was gay or
lesbian, how would you explain to them your opposition to
same-sex marriage?" Kelly asked Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R), who
was the 10th and final candidate to have qualified for the
debate.

"And guess what? I just went to a wedding of a friend of
mine who happens to be gay," Kasich said. "Because somebody
doesn't think the way I do doesn't mean that I can't care about
them or I can't love them. So if one of my daughters happened to
be that, of course I would love them, and I would accept them.
Because you know what? That's what we're taught when we have
strong faith."

It was one standout moment in a performance that earned
rave reviews for Kasich, who barely even made the debate stage but ended
up as one of its clear winners, according to political
strategists and observers. Along with former Hewlett Packard CEO
Carly Fiorina, who was part of the second-tier debate earlier in
the day, the two under-the-radar candidates emerged with clear
momentum from debate No. 1.

"Kasich came out on top," one veteran Republican strategist
said.

"Kasich is killing it. Hopeful. Uplifting. Optimistic. And he has
an appeal to those who think the GOP doesn't care," tweeted Ari
Fleischer, the former press secretary in President George W.
Bush's White House.

That seemed to be the broad consensus across the consultant
class. In fact, as The New York Times' Maggie Haberman wrote in
the paper's "First Draft" morning newsletter, Kasich essentially
"introduced himself to the rest of the country as a
conservative more in the vein of" George W. Bush than his
brother, GOP candidate and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush
(R).

Ten
Republican presidential candidates debate at the first official
Republican presidential debate of the 2016 campaign in
Cleveland.Thomson
Reuters

He sympathized with the sentiments of voters who have
turned to Republican front-runner Donald Trump, admitting he had
tapped into an "anger." And on the biggest potential stumbling
block of his night — when he was asked about his decision to
expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act — he stressed a
message of compassion.

"I had an opportunity to bring resources back to Ohio," he
said. "To do what? To treat the mentally ill. Ten thousand of
them sit in our prisons, at $22,500 a year. I'd rather get them
the medication so they can lead a decent life."

He seemed to have a hunch that he had a good night.

"From what I understand, Twitter's kind of blowing up about me
tonight," he told reporters after the debate.

Hours earlier, Twitter blew up about another candidate — Fiorina,
the former Hewlett Packard CEO. If there was a candidate from the
second-tier debate that could move into the top 10 in CNN's
prime-time debate next month, the consensus was that it was not
Texas Gov. Rick Perry — it was Fiorina.

She cast herself to a receptive audience as a political outsider;
one who wouldn't be afraid to "throw a punch." She delivered
harsh critiques of Democratic front-runner and former Secretary
of State Hillary Clinton. And she wasn't afraid to throw punches
at Trump, even tying him to the Clintons.

"I didn't get a phone call from Bill Clinton before I
jumped in the race," she said, referencing a report of a phone call between the
two just weeks before Trump's entry into the presidential
race. "Any of you get a phone call from Bill Clinton? I didn't.
Maybe it's because I haven't given money to the foundation or
donated to his wife's Senate campaign."

Republican
presidential candidate Carly Fiorina before the debate at the
Quicken Loans Arena, August 6, 2015, in
Cleveland.AP

"Go through your list of where she's lied," Matthews told
Fiorina, who had made the charge about Clinton.

And go through the list she did.

"I will ask her, for example, how she can possibly continue to
defend Planned Parenthood. I will ask her why she continues to
say she's a champion of the middle class, while every single
proposal she puts forward makes 'crony capitalism' worse and
worse and worse, which makes income inequality worse," Fiorina
said.

"I would ask her why she declared victory in Iraq and Afghanistan
in 2011. Why she called [Syrian President] Bashar al-Assad a
'positive reformer.' Why she thought she could stop [Russian
President Vladimir] Putin's ambition, a man I have met, with a
gimmicky red 'reset button.' I'll ask her why she got every
single foreign-policy issue wrong as secretary of state."

"That's how I'll debate her," she declared. "On the issues."

Fiorina isn't on that level yet. But come next month, if the
reception to her debate performance in Round 1 was any
indication, she could very likely be on stage with Kasich in
prime-time.

"CarlyFiorinaclearly
belongs on the big stage," said Greg Valliere, the chief political strategist
at the Potomac Research Group. "She was scary good in the early
debate."